History Repeats Itself

 As a student of history, I have often wondered what would happen if an Adolph Hitler-type personality arose again on the world stage. Would the American public insist on waiting, as it foolishly did in the run-up to World War II, for an attack to occur on American soil? Would we join the Neville Chamberlain appeaseniks and accept a dictator's lie that he will steal no more territory? 

Is there is our political mass a leader who can say, as Roosevelt did, America will be the arsenal of Democracy? Are there leaders in Congress who can look past the last election, the next election, and make the hard decisions to do the right thing for the world?

I afforded myself the great pleasure of listening to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the 6th President of Ukraine (at 44!) present to Congress one of the most incredible speeches I have heard in recent years. In his historic address, the President of Ukraine spelled out in very clear terms to anyone who wanted to listen, his appreciation for the financial and military aid the United States of America has provided to his country, and the need of more financial, military, medical and logistic aid to his war-ravaged country.  

It is a need we should not, and can not, deny. The world has, in the person of Russian President Putin, one who wants to be a combination of Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin. Mr. Putin illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 and the world did little of anything to punish him. In February of 2022, he began a military assault on the whole of Ukraine. But you know that story, I'm not going to go into it now. Historically, this looks a lot like Hitler's actions in the early phases of WWII. 

This time, let America stand for freedom, let us stand for democracy, let us stand against criminal international aggression. Don't wait for a large-scale (world) war to break out. 

It's December 23rd, and Congress has passed a spending bill that includes $45 Billion in aid to Ukraine and our NATO allies, money well spent, in my opinion. Utah Senator Mitt Romney supported the bill, Utah Senator Mike Lee opposed the bill. President Biden has stated he will sign the bill when it is on his desk. 

Sadly, however, there are those in both houses of Congress who say we have spent enough on Ukraine, and they are promising in the next year to "provide oversight" for all the money sent to Ukraine. In plain Olde English, they want to stop any more aid going to the war in Ukraine.  I am not sure what they expect to happen, should they succeed. Do they expect Ukraine to give up democracy and become a Russian puppet state, as so many did between the end of WWII and the fall of the Soviet Union? Is is in their minds that Russia will stop the war and the slaughter of civilians if we stop providing aid to Ukraine? What country, if not the United States, is anywhere close to a position to provide aid in the depth required to Ukraine? Do they really think Putin will stop at Ukraine? 

To those isolationists in Congress, including Mike Lee, I say: Put your sons and daughters, your grandchildren, in uniform and send them to Ukraine. Let them die for your foolishness.  

For the rest of Congress, including Mitt Romney, I thank you for supporting Ukraine and the war against criminal international aggression.

Thank you for reading my thoughts on this matter. I invite your comments, just click on the pencil in the white box below. 

R. M. "Bob" Hartman